Reliable Electricity in Healthcare Saves Lives. Our Board Member Helped Prove It.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) — one of the most respected scientific journals in the world — has confirmed something community health workers have long known: when the power goes out in a hospital, people die.
The research, led by teams from Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, UC Berkeley, and the Research Center for Humanitarian Aid (RCHA) in the DRC, found that reliable electricity in healthcare facilities is associated with a 41% reduction in inpatient mortality.
What the Research Found About Reliable Electricity in Healthcare
The team collected data from 303 hospitals and health centers across three regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The numbers tell a stark story:
Inpatient mortality in facilities without reliable power: ~4.5%
Inpatient mortality in facilities with reliable power: ~2.6%
The threshold that made the difference: more than 22 hours of electricity per day
Critically, when electricity reliability declined within the same facility over time, mortality rose. This confirms that the electricity itself — not just the general quality of the facility — was the deciding factor.
As researcher Sam Miles put it: "Electricity in hospitals cannot be treated like background infrastructure — it is a clinically relevant health system input."
Our Board Member at the Center of This Work
We are proud that Dan Kammen — a member of HNP's board of directors — was one of the lead researchers on this study. Dan is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Energy and Climate Justice at Johns Hopkins University and director of the RENEW laboratory.
"Reliable electricity is often treated as a prerequisite for healthcare, but this research shows that it is itself a measurable determinant of health," he said. "Investments in energy infrastructure can save lives."
Why This Matters for Communities Like Kibera
At HNP Kibera Centre, we understand the link between infrastructure and health outcomes every day. Our work is built on the belief that people in underserved communities deserve the same quality of services as anyone else — not as charity, but as a right.
This research puts rigorous scientific evidence behind that belief. It shows that infrastructure investment in low-resource settings is not just a development priority. It is a medical one.
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